ALPE D´HUEZ 1986. Part IV.

And that, Monday 21st of July, 1986, we had the queen stage, and it had been a difficult night in La Vie Claire hotel, with a very strong argument between Hinault and Lemond. They didn´t rest a lot. so perhaps that stage was going to be a good oportunity for Zimmemrann.

The stage from Briancon and Alpe D´Huez was very, very hard:

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With three Hors category climbs:

Col du Galibier  , 23 kilometers with an average of 5,1%

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Col de la Croix de Fer , 30 kilometers with an average of 5,07%

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Alpe D´Huez, 13,1 kilometers with an average of 8,2%

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As it happened the previous day, it was a hot and sunny day, and as it happened the previous day , or even more, it was going to be a mythical stage.

The stage strated with la Vie Claire in front of the bunch and non importants attempts ok breakaway in the ascent of Galibier.
The first important movement was the attack of the Colombian rider Lucho Herrera, who was trying to get over his bad previous day. Guido Wintenberg went with him.
After them Hinault was accelerating instead of controlling the pack . Lemond was on his wheel and Zimmermann was close, but the group was only a 20 men group, the rythm was very high for la Vie Claire , in order to keep the yellow..................but the intentions of Hinault were totally different.

Finally Herrera left Wintenberg a few meters before the summit and climbed in first position the col du Galibier.

And once the favourites reached the Galibier climb, there was an attack on the descent, not a " domestique attack", it was Hinault as he did in the Pyrenees .But  Zimmermann, Cabestany, Lemond and Bauer reacted, and Herrera dropped.
The they got to the Telegraphe, and someone attacked, as you can guess, another attack from Hinault, but without reaction. A little time later Bauer and Cabestany reacted, but not Lemond, who was waiting for Zimmermann´s reaction. The badger was risking on the descent and the gap was nearly a minute to Lemond, who spoke with his car director, and finally dropped Zimmermann in the last meters of the Telegraphe. An interesting pursuit was going to take place that moment.

Lemond joined Cabestany and his mate Bauer, and spoke to Cabestany to cooperate, he would pay the Spaniard for the work, and they closed the gap of Hinault in the valley, catching him before Saint Jean de Maurienne.
Behind them Zimmermann was finding no help and he was losing two minutes to the four men group.

When the climb started, Bauer dropped, as Cabestany did some kilometers later . The difference to Zimmermann was now close to three minutes.

There were more than 60 kilometers left to the finish line and the mates were alone

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Do you remember a similar moment in Cycling History?...........so we do

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The ascent of the Croix de Fer was not vey fast, because Hinault controlled the pace in order not to increase his knee pain. The diference with Zimmermann was three minutes, and between the main contenders Millar and Herrera were dropping and having a very bad day, besides that Delgado had to quit because heis mother had died the night before and he was not able to continue the stage.

When Hinault and Lemond got to the summit of the Croix de Fer the advantage to Zimmermann  had decreased a little to 2'50", but the La Vie Claire couple took advantage of the descent to increase it to 4 minutes at the bottom of the climb, and they rode saving strength in the valley to the Alpe

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When the reached Bourg d Oisans the advantage was 4'50", the Tour was over, and Hinault was now in second position and King of the mountains, a " good" prixe for the badger.
Onthe first slopes of the Alpe Lemond was scared because of the people ( more than 500.000 people on its slopes), but Hinault told him to got his wheel and let him putting the pace.

Finally it seemed that they had signed the peace, the Tour would be for Lemond , the stage for Hinault , and the glory of such a great stage for both of them. The ascent was a continuos image of the couple

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The advantage to Zimmermann was 5'30", and the French ( and not only them ) were enjoying the stage, it was a perfect parade, with Hinault leading and Lemond behind him.

In the last kilometers Zimmermann recovered a little, but only a few seconds, he would be the third in the overall.

When Hinault and Lemond entered the last kilometer, they spoke, they laughed, PhilLigget, ther famous comentator, who was with Kathy Lemond was delighted, so was Kathy, it was a moment not to forget.......
...........and then the last corner, that incredible stage was going to finish, and all of us Knew the end.........

Lemond conceded the win to Hinault, the Tour was over........

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...............5'15" later Zimmermann crossed the line, it had been a terrible day for the Swiss

Stage classification:
1. Bernard Hinault  5h03'03" (Moy : 32.172 km/h)


2. LeMond
3. Zimmermann............. à 5'15"
4. Montoya ...................à 6'06"
5. Madiot ......................à 6'21"
6. Hampsten................. à 6'22"
7. Pensec .....................à 6'26"
8. Cabrera.................... à 6'34"
9. P.Simon.................... à 6'45"
10. Pino........................ à 6'48"
11. Criquielion ...............à 6'50"
12. Rüttimann ...............à 7'04"
13. Caritoux ..................à 7'37"
14. Bauer ......................à 7'45"
15. Claveyrolat.............. à 8'36"
16. Fuerte .....................à 8'57"
17. Rooks ......................à 9'15"
18. Bagot ......................à 9'24"
19. Flores ......................à 9'26"
20. Chozas ....................à 11'26"
76. Millar .......................à 19'37"
129. Herrera .................à 26'54"
130. Dhaenens ..............à 27'05"
131. Louvel ...................à 27'40"
132. Ramirez ................à 28'25"
133. Uran ......................à 29'11"
134. Leclercq .................à 32'35"
135. Kimmage................ à 36'27" ...........the last position in the stage..........

Overall classification:

1. Greg Lemond 86h27'11"


2. Hinault .................à 2'45"
3. U.Zimmermann .....à 7'41"
4. Hampsten ............à 16'46"
5. Pensec .................à 21'34"
6. Criquielion............ à 22'27"
7. Ruttimann ............à 23'37"
8. Millar ...................à 26'00"
9. Rooks.................. à 26'30"
10. Pino................... à 27'46"
11. Cabrera .............à 28'32"
12. Y.Madiot .............à 29'47"
13. P.Simon ..............à 31'33"
14. Chozas ...............à 33'30"
15. Bernard ..............à 34'15"

Finally a good day for Lemond.............

And then Hinault with the journalists...........
" I hope the stronger will win the Tour. The Tour is not over .............."

Incredible but true, the Tour was not over for Hinault.
The frontpage of  L´Equipe the next day was representative

 Lemond had to suffer more days, because Hinault attacked again in the stage of Gap and Lemond crashed in the last time trial, but he lost the ITT only by 25" and the Tour was finished, because Hinault accepted the defeat and the only hard stage to come, the Puy de Dome was quite for the American, who increased the gap with Hinault and Zimmermann.

An American was winning the Tour, and Hinault was going to" keep his promise" , help Lemond to win the Tour.
The final classification

Overall classification:
1. Greg LEMOND (Usa) en 110h35'19"

2. Bernard Hinault (Fra) à 3'10"
3. Urs Zimmermann (Sui) à 10'54"
4. Andrew Hampsten (Usa) à 18'44"
5. Claude Criquielion (Bel) à 24'36"
6. Ronan Pensec (Fra) à 25'59"
7. Niki Rutimann (Sui) à 30'52"
8. Alvaro Pino (Esp) à 33'00"
9. Steven Rooks (Hol) à 33'22"
10. Yvon Madiot (Fra) à 33'27"
11. Samuel Cabrera (Col) à 35'28"
12. Jean-François Bernard (Fra) à 35'45"
13. Pascal Simon (Fra) à 37'44"
14. Eduardo Chozas (Esp) à 38'48"
15. Reynel Montoya (Col) à 45'36"
16. Charly Mottet (Fra) à 45'58"
17. Thierry Claveyrolat (Fra) à 46'00"
18. Marino Lejarreta (Esp) à 49'09"
19. Jean-Claude Bagot (Fra) à 51'38"
20. Eric Caritoux (Fra) à 52'39"
21. Patrocinio Jimenez (Esp) à 55'42"
22. Luis Herrera (Col) à 56'00"
23. Steve Bauer (Can) à 56'02"
24. Joop Zoetemelk (Hol) à 57'04"
25. Jesus Blanco-Villar (Esp) à 1h03'16"
26. Jean-René Bernaudeau (Fra) à 1h03'56"
27. Alfonso Florez (Col) à 1h05'54"
28. Bernard Gavillet (Sui) à 1h08'17"
29. Peter Stevenhaagen (Hol) à 1h10'40"
30. Joaquin Mujika (Esp) à 1h11'01"


The last day in Paris, was one of the most beautiful days in the life of the Lemond family, and the podium was the last image of that great Tour, perhaps the best ever.

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Thanks Greg, thanks Hinault for this exciting masterpiece of cycling